Finger Knittin’ Good
By Vickie Howell
In the past, I’ve had little luck getting my sons interested in learning to knit. Even when presented with jazz hands, in their eyes, my needles make much better swords than crafty tools. Alas. When summer vacation hits, however, a mom has to get creative in order to keep the kids busy. It’s time to approach the situation from a different angle: keep the knitting, but ditch the needles!
Finger knitting is a great way to keep little hands busy, while creating long cords in a flash! Kids dig it because it’s faster and less cumbersome than traditional knitting. Once knitted, the cords can be made into things like googly-eyed snakes, purse handles, gift ribbons, or my son Tanner’s favorite project du jour, the Twisty Scarf, which we’ll show you how to knit. Hey, don’t just sit there, let your fingers do the knitting!

Materials

Yarn
Your hands

Directions

Step 1: Leaving about a 6″ tail, lay the yarn across your left-hand palm (reverse, if you’re a lefty).Step 2: Using your right hand, wrap yarn clockwise around your left-hand index finger.Steps 3: Continuing as in Step 2, wrap the yarn clockwise around your middle, ring, and pinky fingers. You’ll now have loops on all fingers, excluding the thumb.Step 4: Lay the yarn across your fingers, above the loops.Step 5: Lift your pinky finger loop over the yarn, and let it drop off your finger.Steps 6: Continuing as in Step 5, lift the loop over the yarn and let it drop off on the ring, middle, and pointer fingers. You’ve just completed your first row!Steps 7: Repeat Steps 4–6 until your finger-knitted cord is the desired length.
Keep in mind that at the end of each row, the yarn end will be on the opposite side of the palm. Simply lay the yarn across your palm, beginning from whichever direction the yarn is oriented.
To finish off, cut the yarn, leaving a 6″ tail. Weave the tail through loops, letting them fall off your fingers. Pull tight and knot. That’s all there is to it!

Twisty Scarf

Materials:

3 different colors of the same weight yarnTapestry needle (optional)Tape

Directions

Step 1: Finger knit one 48″ cord in each of the 3 colors.Step 2: Tape the ends of all 3 cords down to a table or the floor.Step 3: Braid the cords together.Step 4: Using a tapestry needle and a strand of yarn, sew an “X” at either end of the braid to tack the cord pieces together. Alternatively, you can skip the sewing and just knot the ends.Step 5: Trim the yarn tails to about 1″–2″.About the Author:
Vickie Howell is a mother, designer, writer, and crafty spokesperson. She writes regular craft columns for Kiwi Magazine and ILovetoCreate.com, and is the of author several books including her latest, Pop Goes Crochet (Lark Books May ’09). Learn more about Vickie’s projects at www.vickiehowell.com.